Washington's dirty attack on China's environmental records
A girl takes pictures at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, capital of China, May 11, 2019. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)
It is so easy to blame China on everything. Environmental issues have also fallen prey to the political calculations of some U.S. politicians, who are devoted to China-bashing, rather than climate change.
The U.S. government on Friday stepped up its smear campaign against China with an alleged "fact sheet" about China's environmental abuses.
Ranging from greenhouse gas emissions to wildlife protection, a U.S. statement boasts its own performance on the environment front while trying to picture China as an irresponsible nation.
With its environmental records extensively flawed and China's achievements widely acknowledged, Washington's broadside can hardly convince the international community, and will simply prove that Washington is dead to shame.
The anti-China sideshow is highly political driven as some U.S. politicians are scrambling to deflect public attention from such thorny issues as the COVID-19 epidemic and racial tensions at home.
It is so easy to blame China on everything. Environmental issues have also fallen prey to the political calculations of some U.S. politicians, who are devoted to China-bashing, rather than climate change.
The fact is that China has been an active player in the global endeavor against climate change. It has contributed significantly to the conclusion of the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris climate agreement and related implementation guidelines, and attained its 2020 climate action targets two years ahead of schedule.
Aerial photo taken on April 27, 2020 shows wind power installations in Weining County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Tao Liang)
In addition, China has accounted for a quarter of the increased afforestation areas worldwide since 2000. These facts have shown that China has made every effort to protect this blue planet, a shared homeland of mankind.
What's more, Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced at the recent general debate of the UN General Assembly that China will update and enhance its nationally determined contribution targets, introduce stronger policies and measures, and strive for the peaking of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
In a videoconference on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highly commended a series of important initiatives and measures Xi announced at the UN General Assembly in spheres of practicing multilateralism, coping with climate change and promoting sustainable development.
Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, said that China "has had a tremendous success in demonstrating climate leadership in recent years" through large investments in clean energy and technologies, electric mobility, and wide-scale land restoration.
While being the world's largest exporter of solid waste, and a major consumer of plastics per capita, the United States has failed to fulfill its obligations to tackle climate change.
The slogan "CLIMATESIGN" is seen on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, Dec. 12, 2015. (Xinhua/Li Genxing)
As the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, it has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, denying its own binding quantitative emission reduction task, refusing to take minimum actions to protect the Earth, and completely drifting away from the global carbon emission system and arrangements. In a nutshell, it has become a real "stumbling block" in the global response to climate change.
Facts speak for themselves. China will unswervingly continue to follow the path of green and low-carbon development and work with other countries to build a clean and beautiful world through concrete actions.
Washington's China-smearing attempts will only backfire and further expose its hypocrisy in front of the international community.